Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in a counter intelligence operation from Mashkel area of Balochistan, which has seen a long-running insurgency allegedly with the active support from Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies.

The military said in a statement that Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, originally a naval commander, had confessed to spying for Indian intelligence agency - Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said the sentence was passed by a Field General Court Martial and confirmed by Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

It said the RAW agent was tried by FGCM under Section 59 of Pakistan Army Act (PAA)-1952 and Section 3 of Official Secret Act of 1923. The FGCM found Jadhav guilty of all the charges, ISPR added.

He confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by the Indian intelligence agency to plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities aiming to destabilise and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of law enforcement agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but least developed province which has been battling a separatist insurgency for years. Pakistan has repeatedly characterised it as “terrorism” promoted by hostile states such as India.

Karachi, a city of 20 million and Pakistan’s economic hub, is also frequently hit by religious, political and ethnic violence.

Jadhav had told judges last year that he was a naval officer who had started doing work for Indian intelligence following a 2001 attack on parliament that India blamed on militants backed by Pakistan .